New year opens with wave of layoffs in the US

The New Year is opening in the US with a wave of layoff announcements and threats of further downsizing during the year.

In the latest blow to retailers, hundreds of women’s clothing stores, operated by Ohio-based chain The Limited, shut their doors over the weekend at shopping malls across the United States. The company, which has 235 stores nationwide and 4,000 employees, quietly began layoffs in December before shuttering its stores on Sunday.

Last week, Macy’s announced it was closing 68 stores and cutting more than 10,000 jobs. Sears also said it will shut down another 150 Sears and Kmart stores, after poor holiday sales. Kohls and JC Penney previously carried out mass layoffs.
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This one really kicked my guts this morning, once I was part of the collective. Semper Virens solidarity forever: Layoffs coming to Petaluma's Alvarado Street Bakery

Alvarado Street Bakery, a Petaluma cooperative once touted by filmmaker Michael Moore as a successful alternative to traditional business structures, is laying off an undisclosed number of support workers as it seeks to reorganize and survive in what its executive called a “very competitive market.”

The affected employees work in retailer support services for the organic bakery, said Kevin Haslebacher, the cooperative’s general coordinator and CEO. He declined to say how many workers are being let go but did reveal that about half of the affected employees work in Sonoma County, while the rest were assigned to field offices in the South Bay and Central Valley.

Haslebacher acknowledged that some laid-off workers “were quite upset, understandably.” But he said the layoffs were done “within the guidelines and bylaws of the cooperative” and he suggested that competition was forcing the bakery “to make a very difficult decision.”

When I was there in the late 80s we had a "no-layoffs" policy. I guess they still do because the new CEO says “within the guidelines and bylaws of the cooperative” sounds like weasel words meaning the members did not vote. I don't know who Haslebacher is, definitely no Joe Tuck.
Only middle-class and above can afford healthy food. "That's the system."

That is a crowd of limousine liberals if there ever was one. She lost me when she made the claim that she and her "co-workers" were among the few most vilified groups in America. Really? I truly doubt that. How out of touch can you be? Together she and her crowd have tremendous economic power. The politicians court them. They may bad-mouth them but that is just superficial B.S. for the consumption of the adoring masses. Money and star power is a potent temptation for politicians. I think politicians love the Hollywood crew.

If she thinks she is among the vilified, maybe she should get out of her bubble a bit. Talk to those Moms and children waiting in detention centers to be deported. Or talk to those homeless Vets on our streets who look as if they are enduring a living hell. Talk to the young Native American women and children at the DAPL protests who endured violent attacks endorsed by our authorities. Talk to the very poor and or unemployed anywhere in this country....now there is a vilified group. Talk to those who are addicted to drugs and can't get help. Talk to those in prison. How about the family of the 16 year old child killed by a drone even though he is a U.S. citizen and had never been charged with a crime and TPTB justify it by saying the father made poor parenting choices so it's OK to kill the child. That child comes from a group so vilified that apparently our LAW does not apply to it.

The economic power of the Hollywood crew is very great. Instead of faux too-late outrage, why didn't they do something useful before we got too this point?

Henry A. Giroux: Trump’s Cabinet Will Be a Group of ‘Neoliberal Evangelicals’
[video:https://youtu.be/xiEFn0Ja6ms]
transcript of the interview is within the linked article
I think I was posted here before in the EB, but am not sure. I thought it's straight forward and worth to hear again. Bold type is mine.

In this interview with The Real News Network, I argue that while it may seem hard to believe that Trump has appointed to high government positions a number of religious fundamentalists, conspiracy-theory advocates, billionaires, misogynists, climate-change deniers and retrograde anti-communists, this should come as no surprise given the anti-democratic conditions that produced Trump in the first place. Not only do these individuals uniformly lack the experience to take on the jobs for which they were nominated, they are unapologetic about destroying the government agencies in which they have been put in charge.

These appointments are indicative of forthcoming policy decisions that will increase the attack on democratic institutions and public goods, as well as the degree to which power will be further consolidated in the hands of the financial elite. While there is little doubt that Trump’s gaggle of appointees represents a deep embrace of ignorance and crony capitalism and a disdain for the institutions that give legitimacy to the social contract and the welfare state, these administrative heads also represent the front guard of the dark times that are to come, times that will be marked by a combination of state repression and unchecked collusion among big corporations, banks and the ultra-rich.

Yet not only has Trump turned a number of important cabinet positions over to the most criminogenic elements of neoliberalism, he has also filled cabinet and high-level positons with generals, ensuring that the militarization of American society will not simply be continued, but accelerated. This mix of incompetent and mean-spirited billionaires and generals represents support of the worst elements of militarism and neoliberalism—a war on education, support for austerity policies and an attack on social provisions, the poor, workers, unions and the most vulnerable.

Under Trump’s administration, a war culture will morph with an updated version of the Gilded Age. Trump’s government of billionaires and militarists makes clear that the next few years will be governed by ruthless financial elite who will give new meaning to an updated version of authoritarianism that will accelerate the misery, suffering and exploitation of a wider sector of American society.

So, am I manipulated by H. Giraux? ... ask a little nagging voice in my ear.
Nah, I don't think so. Some folks just like plain talk and that's ok.

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/139751/hillary-clintons-cabinet-bad

Howard Schultz would be Labor Secretary. Who at Starbucks did under pressure raise their base min wage (from nothing to less than nothing) and then proceeded to cut hours.

HHS would be Neera Tanden who recommend to Hillary NOT to support $15/min wage.

Podesta as SoS? Continue the pay for play?

War monger at Defense who recommend no fly zone in Syria.

Treasury Secretary: Sheryl Sandberg--Sandberg was chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers in Bill Clinton’s administration--